In the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (“IEEE”), “Wi-Fi” (known generally as wireless local area networks (“WLANs”), which terms will be used interchangeably herein) is standardized in an IEEE 802.11 technical specification (IEEE Standard for Information Technology—Telecommunications and Information Exchange between Systems—Local and Metropolitan Area Networks—Specific requirements, Part 11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (“MAC”) and Physical Layer (“PHY”) Specifications), which is incorporated herein by reference. Wi-Fi is a technology that often operates on the 2.4 gigaHertz (“GHz”) or the five GHz band. The IEEE 802.11 technical specification regulates a station (e.g., an access point or wireless terminal) physical layer, a media access control layer, and other aspects to secure compatibility and interoperability between access points and wireless terminals, (also referred to as user equipment “UE”). The terms “wireless terminal” and “UE” will be used interchangeably herein.
Wi-Fi generally operates in unlicensed bands and, as such, communication over Wi-Fi may be subject to interference sources from any number of known and unknown devices. Wi-Fi is commonly used as wireless extensions to fixed broadband access, for instance, in domestic environments and in hotspots like airports, train stations and restaurants.
Recently, Wi-Fi has been subject to increased interest from cellular network operators, not only as an extension to fixed broadband access. The interest is mainly about using Wi-Fi technology as an extension or alternative to cellular radio access network technologies to handle the continually increasing wireless bandwidth demands. Cellular operators that are currently serving mobile users with, e.g., any of the Third Generation Partnership Program (“3GPP”) technologies such as Long Term Evolution (“LTE”), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (“UMTS”)/Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (“WCDMA”) or Global System for Mobile Communications (“GSM”), see Wi-Fi as a wireless technology that can provide an extension of the cellular networks. The term “operator-controlled Wi-Fi” relates to a Wi-Fi deployment that on some level is integrated with a cellular network operator's existing network and where the 3GPP radio access networks and the Wi-Fi wireless access may even be connected to the same core network and provide the same communication services.
There is currently increased activity in the area of operator-controlled Wi-Fi in several standardization organizations. In the 3GPP organization, activities to connect Wi-Fi access points to the 3GPP-specified core network is being explored, and in the Wi-Fi Alliance (“WFA”), activities related to the certification of Wi-Fi products are being undertaken, which to some extent also is driven from the need to make Wi-Fi a viable wireless technology for cellular operators to support high bandwidth offerings in their networks. The term “Wi-Fi offload” refers to offloading traffic from the cellular networks in, for instance, peak-traffic-hours and in situations when the cellular network for one reason or another needs to be off-loaded to provide a requested quality of service, maximize bandwidth, or simply for coverage.
For a wireless operator, by offering a mix of two technologies that are standardized in isolation from each other comes the challenge of providing intelligent mechanisms for co-existence. One such area is connection management by a radio access network for a wireless terminal operating in the coverage of multiple WLAN access points.
The wireless terminals today usually support both Wi-Fi and a number of 3GPP cellular technologies, but many of the wireless terminals basically behave as two separate devices from a radio access perspective. The 3GPP radio access network and the modems and protocols that operate pursuant to the 3GPP specifications are basically unaware of the wireless access Wi-Fi protocols and modems that are operating pursuant to IEEE 802.11 technical specifications.
As noted hereinabove, up until now 3GPP and Wi-Fi have evolved as two separate communication systems and have been standardized to a great extend in isolation. However, 3GPP standards organizations and WFA have recently taken initiatives to improve interoperability of the two communication systems and provide mobile operators with greater control over their “operator-deployed” WLANs.
Despite these continued efforts, limitations of interoperability between a cellular radio access network and multiple, sometimes overlapping, wireless local access networks have now become substantial hindrances for efficient wide-scale deployment of mobile radio access technology. Accordingly, what is needed in the art is an approach that overcomes deficiencies in the current systems and methods.